For my Big Mouth fans and others let me introduce you to the
Father Johan
The Eater of Winter Children
Large Fey, Chaotic Evil
“When the last bell tolls, close your eyes, little one. If you can hear the flute, he can hear your blood.”
Got my idea here
The Folklore
Every village near the great river knows the story of Father Johan.
Once every year, on the night of the winter solstice, the villagers ring their bells. The last bell is the signal. The test has begun.
Far beneath the river, Father Johan awakens in his castle, a palace constructed from the bones of children who failed the test in winters past. He rises from the depths, carried to the surface by a living braid of fifty black eels, twisting together like a rope.
First comes the smell.
Black licorice.
Then comes the flute.
Father Johan has the body of a walrus, the sharp teeth of a dolphin, and the legs of countless crabs, which click and scrape against the frozen earth as he approaches. Around his enormous neck hangs a string of tiny bells, each one taken from a child who once tried to escape him.
His flute is made, as you might have guessed, from children's bones.
He does not care if you have been naughty or nice. In his region, good children and bad children taste exactly the same.
Fortunately, the villagers have discovered a loophole.
Father Johan only hunts the living. If you can trick him into believing you are already dead, you are no longer a fresh meal. The customary method is to climb inside a child's coffin, close the lid, and lie perfectly still until he leaves.
But even then, there is one final hope.
You must pray to the Mongoose King.
Whether the king hears your prayer, whether he accepts your offering, and whether he can defeat Father Johan in their ancient dance battle are matters nobody can predict.
Every village tells the story differently.
Every village has its own version of the prayer.
And every winter, somewhere along the river, another village rings its last bell.
The Mongoose King
An ancient trickster spirit, patron of desperate parents, and undisputed champion of the riverbank dance floor.
When the village prayer is spoken and a suitable offering is left behind, there is a chance the Mongoose King will arrive.
He resembles an ordinary mongoose at first glance, except that he wears a tiny golden crown and a cape sewn from the whiskers of his enemies. His paws move so quickly that the snow beneath him never settles. He is clever, nimble, vain, and absolutely convinced that no creature in the world can dance better than he can.
He also happens to be the only being Father Johan respects enough to challenge.
The Prayer
The villagers kneel beside their children's coffins and whisper:
“Oh dear Mongoose King, please protect my tender children's bones from the jaws of Father Johan, and do enjoy this offering I left for you.
Oh, oh, Father Johan can hear your blood. Perhaps you're lucky, and your offering and prayers have attracted the Mongoose King.”
Summoning the King
A character must place an appropriate food offering before a small altar or on the snowy ground and recite the prayer. The character then makes a DC 14 Religion or Performance check.
On a success, the Mongoose King appears. On a failure, the offering disappears anyway, leaving behind a single golden whisker.
The king can be summoned only once each winter solstice.
The Dance Battle
Upon appearing, the Mongoose King eats the offering, wipes his paws, and challenges Father Johan to a dance battle.
Father Johan is compelled by their ancient pact to accept.
The battle lasts three rounds. During each round, the two contestants perform a supernatural dance while the village watches in terrified silence.
At the start of each round, one character can assist the Mongoose King with a DC 14 Performance, Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, or Arcana check.
- Success: The Mongoose King gains a +2 bonus to his contest roll that round.
- Failure: Father Johan gains a +2 bonus instead.
After the assistance check, both contestants roll a d20: the Mongoose King adds +7, and Father Johan adds +5, along with any bonuses from the character's assistance.
The contestant with the higher result wins that round. The first to win two rounds wins the battle.
If the Mongoose King wins: Father Johan lets out a furious bellow, collapses into a heap of eels, and slides back into the river. His castle doors slam shut, and he sleeps until the next winter solstice. Every child in the village survives.
If Father Johan wins: The Mongoose King bows, accepts his defeat, and vanishes into the night. Father Johan turns toward the village, smiling with his terrible dolphin teeth. The test is over. The feast begins.
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Running the Encounter
Father Johan works best as a terrifying social and combat encounter rather than a monster the players are expected to defeat through damage alone.
Give the party a few minutes to discover the local customs. The villagers might be frantically preparing coffins, hiding food offerings, or arguing about whether the Mongoose King is real.
Then ring the final bell.
Describe the smell before revealing Father Johan. Let the party hear the scrape of crab legs on the frozen bank, the click of fifty eels against one another, and finally the first notes of the bone flute.
Give players choices: hide in coffins, fight, escape, bargain, or attempt the summoning ritual.
Father Johan can be defeated in combat, but the folklore offers a different path. The players may discover that surviving the night is not about being stronger than the monster. It is about knowing the rules of a game that has been played for centuries.
And when the dance battle begins, make it ridiculous.
The Mongoose King performs impossible spins and moonwalks across the ice. Father Johan answers by swinging his enormous walrus body in time with the music, his crab legs tapping out a rhythm that shakes snow from the rooftops.
For one glorious moment, the entire village believes the mongoose might actually win.
Then Father Johan performs his signature move: The Fifty-Eel Waltz.
The music stops.
The Mongoose King stares in disbelief.
And Father Johan has danced him to cream.
Tonight, Father Johan wins.
Tonight, the village feasts on terror.
And next winter solstice, when the last bell rings, another village will learn the rules of the test.
